Lightest Rifle Scopes Ive found
Intro
My pursuit to find a super light yet capable scope has often resulted in the usual leupold ultralight being brought out & not much else. So I decided to spend some time & research manually, each of the better scopes with AO & list their weights, if they were comparable to the other ultralight scopes.The goal is not just to find any old light scope, but rather one that has adjustable objective or side focus, & reasonably good picture quality.
The ultralight only has 1 model with AO, the efr 3-9x33mm, which frankly is just a tad short of the magnification I wish it would otherwise have, because Leupold scopes are inherently extra wide & overstate the magnification when compared to other brands. A 9x leupold really only is an 8.3x & a 6-18x40mm vx-2 is really only a 16.7x scope!
Those of you that have read my previous articles on shooting ergonomics will be aware of my personal belief the rifle weight balancing plays the most important role in your ability to shoot accurately, outside of the firearms technical capability.
I also look into factors such as reticle shape, thickness, & field of view.
In this article, I hope to share with you my findings around which scopes have worked best to aid that goal, & hopefully clarify some reasons as to why I tried them.
Parallax Adjustment is critical for shooting under 50 yards / 50 metres & upto 100 metres when using higher magnification say 16x. A lot of my accurate shooting is done with a 22 at shorter ranges, thus the Adjustabe Objective (AO) or Side Focus (SF) feature is the main thing I look for aside from the zoom magnification range.
I also assess the magnification to weight ratio, ie, if you can get a little extra zoom for hardly say 25 grams of extra weight, then that scope is worth considering.
Leupold
In most cases Leupold is quite pricy & there are equally nice scopes out there for cheaper.Bushnell is one such brand that in my opinon has really given Leupold a run for its money.
At the lower end, Mueller seems to have hit the nail too with optics, though I must admit their build quality sometimes isnt enough.
But when you start looking at weight, Leupold scopes seem to be some of the lightest available, & not much else is easily found. I am told this is not necessarily a good thing, because they use lots of thinner aluminium, not one piece steel. Ill document many of the other contenders too.
In my pursuit to find a nice light parallax adjustable scope, I cant help but notice an array of light Leupolds on offer:
Leupold vx2 6-18x40 15.8 oz 447 grams
In my oinion, probably the best compromise of weight to magnification, this one sits on my Tikka & despite much searching, I doubt I will ever find a lighter one. Nice scope, but it wasnt cheap!
Leupold vx-2 ultralight 3-9x33mm EFR - 11.5 oz 326 grams
Note that you need the EFR version which has AO & is heavier than the other ultralight vx-2 3-9x power. The other one does NOT have AO & will appear as 8.8oz, we dont want that.Lightest scope Ive ever found with AO, but sometimes, at 9 power, more is desirable.
Leupold vx2 4-12x40mm AO - 13.2 oz 373 grams
Lastly, the old favourite on many a 22s, who would have thought this one is probably the best choice when it comes to a compromise between enough magnification & light weight.Stay clear of the non AO vx-1 model, which is cheaper & lighter.
Bushnell
Though not as light as Leupolds on paper, the Bushnells have made some pretty light scopes. The elite range given their full steel tube & 1000 round 375h&h tested construction are probably great for heavy calibres or bush use.Heres a list of their best candidates:
Banner 3.5-10x36mm AO - 15 oz 425 grams - cheapest in the lightweight range
I plan to buy this scope soon so should be able to tell you more about it in a month or so when its here from the USA.I have owned cheap bushnell scopes before as well as the elite & for the price I felt they were really nice, well made products.
Cheap ones had some distortion at the edges of the view, which can be a problem but remember this only happened in their cheapest scope.
The Elite 3200 4-12x40mm Rainguard is a really great scope, but I wont mention it as a lightweight one as there are better contenders in that regard.
Nikon
Top end optics but are usually heavy weight & long eye relief.The long eye relief has often made Nikon scopes hard to mount of 22s with shorter length of pull due to the usually shorter stocks.
Lots of nice side focus scopes though, so the lighter ones need a mention.
Buckmaster 4.5-14x40 SF
Simmons
Ive thought of Simmons as being one of the first brands to provide excellent value scopes, the good old 8-point with AO were scopes we learnt to shoot using, & to date are serious contenders for beginners.They possess excellent field of view, much like the Muellers, which really make life harder for the likes of the cheap basic leupolds vx1 or some redfields that cost twice as much.
Master Series ProSport 4-12x40mm AO - 13.8 oz
I would hope this pro sport series has reasonable image quality, but have never used it. Quite an acceptable weight for the price, anyone out there got this scope?Vortex
I have never had dealings with this brand, but have heard the name recently with some good reviews. None the less, for what I want to achieve, I thin it will be more than adequate.Diamondback 4-12x40mm AO - 15oz
Huntsman
This is not the BSA huntsman series, but rather a cheap brand that becoming popular in New Zealand.The huntsmen scope is a ridiculously awesome cheap scope that offers better image qualtiy than you would believe. I have in the past dealt with garbage from NCStar etc only to confirm the obvious, but hey this Huntsman is different. This was the first time a cheap scope could actually be considered as usuable as an expensive one.
Not sure how well the reticle holds up to recoil, but works mint on my 22s, the CZ 452 & the Ruger 10/22.
The 4-12x40mm AO scope fails to disappoint upto the 12x range though.
With most cheapish scopes, it will be crappy at max power for very high magnification options, so maybe a 16x huntsmen is really only a 12x scope, dont know never tried the others.
Give it a try.
